5 Ways To Increase Revenue By Reducing Expenses

By Megan Wittenberger | Small Business

5 Ways To Increase Revenue By Reducing ExpensesSmall business owners often would rather look for ways to increase revenue than talk about cutting costs and being more efficient. In today’s economy, changing your mindset can open you up to thinking about creative ways to increase your revenue.

This is a good time for small businesses to look for opportunities to save without sacrificing quality, according to an article on The Small Business Playbook, a blog for business owners. These five strategies can help increase your bottom line.

Reduce operating hours: If your business does not need to be open during specific hours, consider cutting your hours to reduce payroll and other operating expenses. Closing on what’s usually your slowest day also can free up time for strategic business planning.

Use technology to cut administrative costs: Streamlining administrative processes and automating routine tasks can reduce labor and materials costs. Instead of paying an employee or IT consultant to manually back up your business data, for example, a cloud service can back up your data automatically and securely, often at a savings.

Share your workplace: Depending upon your business, you may be able to save money by sharing your facility. Whether you lease or own office space, see if you can find another business or startup to use your office when you’re not there, The Small Business Playbook article suggests.

Review your suppliers: If you’ve used the same suppliers for several years, there may be other vendors you can leverage for a better deal. For office supplies, going through online suppliers or warehouse stores can provide savings. When you’re looking at travel, leveraging different websites can help you get the best rates. You also can save by leveraging unified communications, such as web conferencing, chat and video conferencing.

Instead of pay raises, offer workers value adds: Employees are always looking for a pay raise, but it’s not always about the money. Value adds like flexible work hours or greater autonomy can add up. Employees may not see it at first, but as they use these value adds it can provide them with a different kind of lifestyle that could mean more to them than a pay raise.

As you can see, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to cutting costs and improving efficiency. What works for one business might not work for another. However, these five strategies can serve as a springboard to help your business brainstorm ways to save money without impacting quality.

We’d love to hear your story. How is your business saving money this year?